Be careful with software too, it can get extremely expensive - on the advice of my instructor I shelled out a fortune on the 'Elite' trainer when I was doing my IR, it was a fairly useful program but, in my opinion, not worth the money and to be honest I really regretted paying what I did for it.
Microsoft Flight Sim (plus add-ons for your specific type, plus a joystick...) is probably sufficient for practicing approaches/holds, RANT is good as well and doesn't require a particularly high spec PC as far as I know. Wouldn't particularly recommend Elite.